Am I Clinically Addicted to Facebook?
via flickr user GOIABA
At 9 a.m. I’m scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed. Throughout the day I’m sharing articles, music, videos or clever quotes on my wall with my network of close friends. By 8 p.m. you may catch me browsing through my sister’s Jamaica album. And when I traveled to China last year and couldn’t access Facebook…I missed it (gasp!). Does this mean I’m addicted?
Perhaps Facebook use today is what telephone usage was in the 70’s. See Telephone Addiction Problem for Parents. Or, perhaps Facebook is a serious problem for some users. According to The Atlantic, Norwiegian researcher Cecilie Schou Andreassen likens Facebook addiction symptoms to those of video game and gambling addicts.
Andreassen’s research is based on the six core components of all addictions: salience, mood modification, tolerance, withdrawal, conflict and relapse. She asks her subjects questions such as how much Facebook interferes with real-life obligations and whether they are using Facebook to ignore problems.
Skeptics say a Facebook addiction is too broad in scope. Is the user addicted to constantly updating his status or photo browsing? Others find the classification limiting. Couldn’t one say the user is addicted to social media?
I side with the telephone theory. The telephone only seemed like an addiction when young people started using it more than letter writing. Facebook is only an addiction until the next communication technology emerges. But don’t trust me, I’m probably an addict.
You might also like:
Comments
Latest Posts
Fast Chat: How Pols and Traders Use Google, Twitter, Facebook for Big Bets
June 7th, 2012Can mining the vast store of information in tweets, Facebook postings and online searches really help businesses and campaigns divine the national mood? Lauren Ashburn and Howard Kurtz don’t agree.
Hollywood Hype May Hurt Obama
June 7th, 2012We already knew that Hollywood loves Obama. But we sure are getting daily reminders of it.
All those e-mails (from Barack himself) inviting people to win a dinner with him at George Clooney’s house. The new ad from Sarah Jessica Parker (touting the president and dinner at her house). Anna Wintour, Scarlett Johannsen and the gang chiming in.
I’m not sure this helps the president connect with struggling middle-class voters. Lauren Ashburn thinks I’m wrong, that people love celebs. That’s why we had this video debate.
Sean Parker Wants You to Chat with Cool Strangers
June 7th, 2012We exist in an e-business and e-social world, one with which I’m certainly familiar. Skype and Google Hangout often come in handy for interviews with young entrepreneurs nationwide for my forthcoming column (shameless plug) and chats with my cousins in Israel. But is video chat a necessary medium for interacting with strangers?
Calling all people who personally enjoy speaking to random passersbys. Plus anyone who jumps at the opportunity for awkward first date chats. Napster co-founders Sean Parker (not to be confused with Justin Timberlake) and Shawn Fanning introduce Airtime, a video chat service.
Proof That (Some) Married Men Are Sexist
June 7th, 2012Less than five percent of Fortune 500 CEOs are women. According to The Atlantic, a recent study reveals that married men in “traditional marriages” are more sexist in their attitudes towards women in the workplace compared to men in “modern marriages.” Could this be true?
Can Grandma Save Newspapers?
June 7th, 2012Newspapers need Superman, not the elderly. However, if newspapers have any desire to stick around, Poynter postulates that old people can keep newspapers alive for at least the next 10 years.
People over 65 are newspapers’ biggest fans and consumers. But watch out print, your seniors are catching on to the online movement: 70 percent go online at least once a day.
